SOURCE – The latest Berzerker Legion album is Chaos Will Reign – and you discuss in the background information that for this second record, you upped the level of aggression without intending to. Now able to appreciate the completion of the record, what circumstances took place that caused this to be a natural evolution from the sad atmosphere portrayed on your debut album from 2020 Obliterate the Weak?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – For us Chaos Will Reign feels like a logical successor to our debut album. Both albums have a variety on riffs, brutality, melodies and harmonies. We didn’t change any in our writing styles. We just write and make music what we like. Very spontaneous without any pressure. Of course we do have a vision and direction in our style but all that just comes natural. But somehow it feels that the new record is just a bit faster then the debut. Not on purpose, so maybe we did had some evolution within the band but still for us it doesn’t feel that way.
One big difference between both albums is the production. This time we choose Black Lounge Studio to mix and master our songs. The sound and the overall production has become so massive with still without any loss of small details in our music.
SOURCE – How does the drumming of James Stewart as well as the production work of Jonas Kjellgren transform these tracks into something that much more special and unique for Berzerker Legion? Can you think back to specific instances where their skill sets shined on the new album?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – Looking at Berzerker Legions line up in general I think it’s not hard to tell that there is a lot of experience within the band. You could call us veterans as we all have been active in music for such a long time. Several bands, decades of studio and live experience.
In Berzerker Legion Tomas and me are the songwriters. For the new album I wrote 6 songs and Tomas delivered 5 tracks. The writing process is simple. I write all guitars, bass and drums for my songs at home. For drums I use drum computer so I can finish the song structure and the tempos. It sounds very static as it is a drum computer, but at least we all get a good impression how the song will be.
Once the recording starts James is on. His input and free hand levels the songs up so much. James is an amazing talented tight drummer and adds so much to all the songs. He takes his job really serious and his work on the songs makes Berzerker Legion so much more dynamic.
Also for this album we choose Jonas Kjellgren for the album production. Jonas has been in the scene also a long time. As musician and producer. With many great albums on his name we decided to let him do the job. He gave us exactly the sound and the mix we needed. Compared to the first album it’s a huge step forward in sound and mix. It has become massive, heavy without any loss of details. Straight in your face, yet a fresh sounding record. A great guy to work with and his productions skills made it totally worth it. What a sound it has become.
SOURCE – How did you feel about the response to the first single you released which led to the debut Obliterate the Weak?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – The first single “Choirs of Anguish” was written by Tomas and I think this song totally represents Berzerker Legion. A song which contains all elements. He did an amazing job on that song and we were so excited that we finally could share something of our musical vision to the world again. This video is a lyric video with some great special effects of the artwork.
The day the video was released was pretty excited for us. Of course as band you can like a song but you never know what the outside world thinks. But so far the responses of this song have been very good. We saw some great responses. It’s obvious that we like the music we write and when you read those praising comments on a first single from an upcoming album makes it worth all the work we put into our music. A glorious feeling it is.
SOURCE – What does Chaos Will Reign mean to you, in terms of what you want to represent as a band?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – When we released our debut album I was really happy the way our music turned out. The typical melodies and harmonies alternated with the brutality we bring in our music. On that album there is a perfect balance between all songs. For me Chaos Will Reign is a logical successor. We still have that same vision as our debut album but somehow it seems we have developed ourselves. The songs seems more complete. In general a bit faster but still same kind of melodies. Besides the music we also made a huge step forward in the album production from Jonas. The combination of music and the mix makes this album stronger. At least that’s my opinion. Let’s wait how the world sees this.
Don’t forget about the artwork, and the lay outs we made for this release. It just has become a beautiful product and for me it’s the reward for all the hard work, all the hours, we did for the album.
SOURCE – Tell us about the track Choirs Of Anguish and the video you shot for it. How important are videos in the promotion process these days?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – Choirs of Anguish is a lyrical video. I already mentioned before that this is one of Tomas his songs. And I think it has become a very powerful strong one. For that reason we choose this song for the first video. A first glimpse of the new album and what to expect. The video was made my friend Carl Assault. He has done many videos in the past from several bands, he knows what to do. As a band you need to take every opportunity to promote your new material. This includes videos as well. It’s an easy way to spready your music all over the world. For this album we have the lyrical song “Choirs of Anguish” and recently we shoot a video of the title track ”Chaos Will Reign” which will be released early November.
SOURCE – Have you experienced any differences in how the foreign press treats you and the band compared to how native press and media treats and writes about you?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – Not really, Berzerker Legion is an international band. I’m from The Netherlands. Couple of Swedish guys and a British living in Poland haha. But looking at reviews and comments I can’t see any difference. It seems people just give an honest opinion. Good or bad. We had a lot of good reviews with our debut album in 2020. But Swedish rock for example was not that high, even though we had 3 Swedish in the band. I remember the guy who interviewed me adored the album but the reviewer was a different person. It should not be like that but reviews are mostly just a personal taste. With the new album coming I am very curious about what the world thinks now. Especially Sweden Rock hahaha. I hope they all love it but it’s just impossible to please everybody. No band can.
SOURCE – Several artists have recently been talking about issues with streaming services and losing money, while others have been defending it. What are your thoughts on this evolution of the music industry?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – Playing death metal won’t make you rich anyway. It’s a small music branch. But the best scene to be part of. Streaming services don’t bring much money to musicians. That’s true. But the internet streaming has become a very big chapter in listening music. Myself I’m still a fanatic collector and if I like something I buy LP or CD (or both if it is real good hahaha). This way the band gets more. Support a band is the main thing to keep a band going on. The internet and streaming is a part of live now and has two sides. It very easy to discover new bands. Have all music you like online. But it comes at the expense of the artist. Besides streaming touring also gets harder and harder. High expenses and costs, Venues charging ridiculous high commission over merchandise sales. So keep the scene alive and support it!
SOURCE – To wrap things up, what are your plans for the rest of 2023?
Alwin Zuur (Guitars) – For now the most important thing is to enjoy the release of the album. Having the albums in my hand will be the reward for the hard work and the effort we put into this record. Besides that the year is almost over and for this year there is not so much possible anymore. However we do look forward to promote our new album as much as we can for the next year. It is time to reign on stage as well.
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